Hello all,
I am Australian resident currently living in Iowa, America for one year. I've got next to no major living expenses other than food and car fuel. I am earning decent money from my full time job. Thinking of obtaining a PPL at
Ankeny Regional Airport while I am here and then converting to CASA PPL when I am back in Australia.
From the
CASA Form it seems like a pretty straightforward and painless process to convert.
- I am on an E3 work visa - can I still do flight training or do I need the special M1 student visa?
- I haven't yet contacted any flying schools (I think there may only be one at the airport anyways..). The
absolute minimum it can cost is close to 6,000 dollars but I should budget for closer to 8,000 - I do have lots of PPL navigation and theory of flight books at home so hopefully won't have to purchase all of the text.
- Learning to fly in summer versus winter or autumn/spring? Would one season be cheaper to get the training in? 100LL fuel price is just under 7 USD/gal (~1.85USD/L) "Full Service" (?).. seems quite expensive to normal car fuel at 3.70 (~0.98USD/L) USD gal
100LL.com
- Back home it would be awesome if I could volunteer at gliding clubs with towing and maybe even eventually learn to fly a glider.. so for the tugs a taildragger endorsement is probably a good idea?
I've always been into flying, but never had quite a chance like this to follow through with it and get it done. Are there any other things you would suggest that I look into..? I was also thinking of visiting the flight schools here to have a look at what they are like.
Thanks in advance
onesixsix